Humber College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning
- English Language Centre

Student Details:

Name:

Ai Takayama; Sol Herrera

Country of Origin:

Japan; Venezuela

Field of Study:

English for Academic Purposes (EAP)

Student Story:

"When I came to Canada, I thought my problems in English were only with listening and speaking because as a student in Japan I had studied English grammar. But after spending some time here, I realized that I needed to improve my English even more." Like so many other international students, Ai Takayama wanted to study in Canada but lacked the language skills necessary for admission to her program of choice - the Landscape Design program at Humber College. But because she met all the other requirements, Ai was offered a conditional letter of acceptance to the Landscape program based on her completion of the English for Academic Purposes (EAP) program.

Humber's EAP program is specifically designed to provide international students with the language skills necessary to study at the post-secondary level. The program has 8 levels, and each level is 8 weeks long with 25 hours per week of classroom and language lab instruction. To make the EAP program even more accessible, students can enter it at 6 different times (every other month) during the year. Students are placed in their appropriate level after testing at the college or, in some instances, even while still in their home country, using Humber's English Language Proficiency Test (HELP). "The first day of EAP, I was so nervous," Ai recalls. "For some reason, I was placed in level 5, but I felt my English was too poor for that level. I struggled so much that first month, but I got used to it." In fact, Ai did so well that she graduated with the EAP Award of Excellence. In the Landscape Design program, Ai continued to impress her teachers and win more awards, including a teaching assistantship. "Some years ago, I could only speak a few English words. Now I am teaching Canadian students in English. How cool is that?", she says proudly.

Another success story is Sol Herrera. After completing her undergraduate degree in economics at Universidad Santa Maria, Venezuela, Sol worked for a few years in business but soon realized that she needed to upgrade her skills. She chose Humber because it offered her a "perfect combination." "Humber was in the country I wanted to go to, Canada; in the city I wanted to live, Toronto; and it had the program I needed to take to learn English, in order to get into the program I really wanted, International Marketing." Sol feels the time she invested in learning English was well spent. "I simply couldn't have taken International Marketing or any other program at any other school," she says, "had I not gone through EAP."

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